Covenant Upgrade -Hebrews 8:7-13

Every 5 years or so Sony and Microsoft come out with a new system that is supposed to revolutionize the gaming experience for everyone who enjoys video games. In much the same way, Apple, and Microsoft will upgrade their phones, computers, and tablets every so often and encourage people to buy a new computer/tablet as a result. Whether it is video games or computers, the issue with upgrades is retooling the software. Software is the system that makes the computer or console do what you want it to do. The performance of the computer is largely determined by the sophistication of the software that is downloaded to it. New software is offered to replace the old every now in then because improvements have been made and bugs worked out.

In a similar way, how we live our lives has a lot to do with software of a different kind—spirituality. Our spirituality, like software, is intimately connected with the hardware of our bodies, and minds, in an interdependent relationship. How well we live is dependent on how good our software is and this, even on a biblical level has experienced an update. Windows may have gone through windows 95, 2000, xp, vista, 7, 8, and 10 and Apple phases like mountain lion, snow leopard, mavericks, and el capitan. However, there are only two ways of living biblically that are indicated by two software packages: the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In our passage today, we are given the most robust description (existing in six parts) of the latest and greatest package given to believers that allows them the best possible lives both now and forever. It is called, the New Covenant.

The Occasion for the New Covenant-8:7

In the passage leading up to verse 7, the preacher of Hebrews has just demonstrated the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood over and above the priesthood of the Old Testament. His ministry is in the heavens (not on the earth), His ministry is not obsolete (unlike the Old Testament ministry), and his ministry is indicative of a new/current covenant. Having introduced the idea of this New Covenant in verse 6, the preacher now decides to delineate the parts of this covenant and show how it is superior to the Old Covenant that was given to Moses.

The first part of the New Covenant that is identified is the occasion for the New Covenant--“For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second,…” (8:7). Here, the logic is simple, Because God saw fit to make a New Covenant, something must have gone wrong with the first. So, what fault was found in the Old Covenant? The first covenant referred to here was not successful at delivering the fullness of a relationship that God ultimately desired to share with humanity. Instead, it served to remind humanity of its inadequacy before God and proved to be merely a tool of conviction.

Though conviction is a good first step, it is not the kind of thing that can sustain a working relationship. Eventually, God’s people needed to move beyond conviction and into a loving relationship that promoted good works not out of compulsion, but out of something more.

As I teach my children right from wrong, what I am hoping for is that they not only know what is wrong, but that they know what is wrong and as a result both desire and are then able to choose to do what is right. The first covenant proved successful at the first step—helping people identify what was wrong. However, it accomplish little more than that. This is why God saw fit to instigate a New Covenant—a faultless covenant that was actually capable of bringing people the rest of the way to 

God.

The Prediction is made-8:8

After finding fault with the first covenant and, as a result, finding fault with His people, the preacher continues by referencing an ancient prophecy of the New Covenant that was to come, “he says, Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a New Covenant” (8:8a). In His mercy and foresight, God looked forward to a better system that made Him more accessible to His people. He predicted this better system hundreds of years before it actually came about through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (the quote that is given here in Hebrews 8:8-12).

At the beginning of this reference, God predicts that He will “effect” a New Covenant in the days to come. To “effect” something’s existence means to cause it to exist by virtue of its having been finally accomplished (Louw-Nida). Therefore, the existence of this New Covenant promises in Jeremiah was dependent on the accomplishment of some feat that would be completed sometime in the future (that is the future for Jeremiah).

We know, given what the rest of the New Testament says, that the accomplishment necessary to bring this covenant about centered on Jesus’ sacrifice for Sin. He said as much in the upper room as He broke bread and passed around the cup. He intimated as much while on the cross when he said, “It is finished!” What was finished? The accomplishment necessary to bring in a new era in which God’s people could relate to Him in more intimate ways. Jesus’ completed work on the cross instigated a new way to relate to God.

This new way of relating to God was made available to both “the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (8:8b). When Jeremiah originally, gave this prophecy, this would have meant a great deal. During Jeremiah’s day, the Jewish people had split themselves into two kingdoms: Israel to the north and Judah to the South. Although God had intended for His people to be united and committed to Him and His purposes, because of the people’s sin, things had not worked out that way. Here, Jeremiah predicts a new day, when both houses and both kingdoms are reunited under a New Covenant.

Though here this covenant appears to be written exclusively for Israel and Judah, it is important to understand the context in which the preacher of Hebrews is writing. If we remember his audience, largely Jewish Christians, we can understand why this quote and its use makes perfect sense. These Jewish Christians, more than just about anyone else should understand that the New Covenant was for them. God wanted to give HIS people a new way of relating to Him. However, like in their response to the first covenant, the preacher witnessed more and more people denying what God had made available to them. To these he says, “God has given you a New Covenant—a faultless covenant!” Though the New Covenant is elsewhere applied to the gentiles, the preacher is predominately concerned about encouraging his Jewish brethren to embrace what Jesus has made available.

The Reason for the New Covenant-8:9

One reason why the Jewish Christians reading this, or any Christian for that matter, should embrace the New Covenant is witnessed in verse 9—“Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in My covenant and I did not care for them, says the Lord.”  This verses provides the reason for the New Covenant. The Old Covenant, given after a miraculous Exodus to a people who had experienced the grace of God in numerous ways, did not compel perseverance.

There was no guarantee that the people of the Old Covenant would remain in or continue in the promises issued. In fact, many fell away and were not allowed into the Promised Land. Many after that fell away and ended up seeing themselves and their kingdom divided. Many others fell away and landed in exile. On all these occasions, the people of God broke their side of the promise and for that reason, the Lord “did not care for them.” In other words, disobedience was repaid with God’s silence and His judgment. The blessings of Israel and its people under the Old Covenant system was in direct proportion to how well they kept their end of the deal and this they failed to do.

Ultimately, the reason for the New Covenant is this: the Old Covenant system did not establish a lasting relationship between God and His people. Humans failed to keep the covenant and because of that their relationship with God suffered. Something needed to replace this old and unsuccessful system.

The Character of the New Covenant is Identified-8:10

The replacement is described in verse 10. Again, this replacement is said to be primarily intended for the Jews, “for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel” (8:10a). However, this does not mean the Jews exclusively. Though the preacher of Hebrews is writing to Jewish Christians, the Bible teaches that this New Covenant also applies to the gentile world.

Romans 1:16-“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Romans 2:10-11-“but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is not partiality with God.”

Therefore, keep your ears tuned in to hear what the New Covenant has to say about how New Testament believers are able to relate to God.

“…after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts” (8:10b). In the Old Covenant, God’s law was written on stone and preserved on paper. It was an independent fixture of regulations existing outside the human person that leaned only so heavily on individual will. However, in the New Covenant, one does not escape the compelling nature of God’s standards so easily. God has put it into the minds of His people and written His Law on their hearts. Those of the New Covenant live righteous lives because that is who they are. It is a result of what was been placed into their consciousness and what was been permanently marked on their soul.

The people of God are no longer compelled to live righteously because God told them to do so in a written word, they are motivated to holy living because of an incarnate Word that dwells within them! Though words on a page might be convincing, what is more convincing is what we believe with our hearts.

As a result of this, the text promises the following: “and I will be their God and they shall be My people” (8:10). Relationship is what is promised in the New Covenant—a real unconditional relationship that is not dependent on performance. The future predictive verbs used in the latter part of verse 10 suggest a continuous state of affairs, “I will (forever) be their God and they shall (forever) be My people.”

The Implications of the New Covenant are Given-8:11-12

After referencing the character of the covenant as described in Jeremiah 31, the preacher identifies the implications of the covenant. First, this covenant will yield compelling knowledge of God, “any they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them” (8:11). In other words, everyone within the covenant will know God intimately enough not require constant reminders of His presence and His truth.

The next part of the verse makes is absolutely clear that everyone, regardless of education, wealth, prestige, talent, etc. so long as they belong to the New Covenant, will “know” God (“from the least to the greatest”). Therefore, unlike the Old system in which high priests and prophets enjoyed the special privilege of knowing God in more exclusive ways than others, in the new system, all who belong to it will enjoy the same experiential and intimate knowledge of God.

Part of the reason this compelling knowledge and intimate relationship is available to all is because of the unprecedented access each will have to God because of the forgiveness of sins that is offered under the New Covenant program. The Covenant promises in verse 12, “For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.” It is God’s doing, it is His willingness to forgive sin, that allows this New Covenant to take shape. While in the Old Covenant, God required payment for access to Him, in the New Covenant, God accepts Jesus’ payment and bestows forgiveness.

The Conclusion drawn from the New Covenant-8:13

At the end of this passage, we hear again from the preacher himself as he provides his conclusion in light of the extended reference of Jeremiah 31:31-34 (which just so happens to be the longest Old Testament quote in the New Testament). He concludes, “when he said, ‘A new Covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear…”

The Old Covenant Law has been taken over by a better system. This system successfully provides forgiveness from God and intimate knowledge of God that together work to establish a real relationship with God. The Old Covenant gave limited access to God, partial knowledge of God, and temporary appeasement from God. Perhaps this is why the Lord doesn’t support this outdated system anymore. Something greater has taken its place.  

So What?

What do all of these parts of the presentation have by way of encouragement today for us as believers? Sure, we can see how the New Covenant is better than the Old, however, isn’t this all academic? May it never be! We must, in light of so great a covenant and, as we talked about last week, the superior ministry of Christ, take advantage of the many privileges we are given as those belonging to the family of God under this new system. Given what this passage has said, we are compelled to investigate and appreciate all that we can know about our God because He is, because of Christ’s completed work, knowable! Not only that, but because Jesus paid the ultimate price for our forgiveness, we should live in in the confidence of our standing in His grace—no longer weighed down by sin and mistakes. Finally, because of the relationship we are now capable of having with God, we ought to make the most of it by spending time with Him in prayer, seeking His will in all things, and proving our love through obedience to HIs desires. We are a New Covenant people, Praise the Lord! Therefore, let us live lives of righteousness, love, and obedience to the God that we were once estranged from but are now reacquainted with through Jesus.